Arsenal legend Ian Wright admits he hated pal Alan Shearer while they were playing as he ‘scored too many goals’
IAN WRIGHT “hated” Alan Shearer because of his England team-mate’s annoying supremacy in bagging Premier League goals.
Arsenal legend Wrighty is now “proud” to be the Newcastle great’s friend – but in the 1990s it seemed he wanted to give his rival striker a Golden Boot up the backside.
Shearer easily tops the Prem’s all-time scorer list on 260, with Wayne Rooney amassing 208 and Andy Cole third on 187, compared to 180 for fourth-placed Sergio Aguero and 113 for Wright, who sits in 19th.
And in an amusing rant Wrighty claimed Shearer used to blank him in the tunnel before club games, such was his steely focus.
The ex-Crystal Palace and West Ham star does, however, rate Blackburn title-winner Shearer “the best No9 we’ve ever produced”.
On his My Classic Football Shirts Warehouse Tour show, Wrighty picked up a Shearer top and said: “Proud to call him my friend now… but when we were playing I hated him – simply because of his hunger to score goals on a weekly basis.
I love him now, when you used to play against him you’d be in the tunnel with him and he’d just blank you.
Ian Wright
“You come in and you’ve scored two, Shearer scores three. If you scored two, Shearer scored one. If you score three, Shearer scores two.
“So you can never catch up with him. And we’re talking about someone who had three years out of the game with real bad injuries and he’s still got 260. He’s still way out in front.
“I’m not sure really people realise the enormity of his achievement.”
At least Wrighty could have bamboozled Shearer with his unorthodox maths – given his interesting adding up of ones and twos.
But there is no mistaking his admiration for him now, especially for sticking with the Magpies for the final ten years of his playing career.
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Wrighty said: “He went to Newcastle because it’s his hometown club – could have easily gone to Man Utd, won another seven or eight Premier Leagues… then probably globally he’d be even more revered.
“But he’s still revered. I still think it’s going to take some real doing for someone to surpass 260.
“My friend is at the helm of the Premier League goalscorers simply because he’s worked his socks off to get there and he’s done it for his hometown club, record goalscorer for them.
“I love him now, when you used to play against him you’d be in the tunnel with him… and you might have left the England squad on the Wednesday and you’re playing against him on the Saturday, and he’d just blank you when you’re in the tunnel.”
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With that, Wrighty jokingly punched Shearer’s shirt – which was closer than he ever got during their-on field days to denting his rival’s top-man status.
Shearer’s tally of 260 from 441 games in 14 seasons includes 11 hat-tricks, 58 penalties and three Golden Boot awards – on his way to 422 goals in all competitions.
Yet it does not even count the 23 goals he notched for Southampton in the old First Division before it became the Prem in 1992.